Pakistani cooperation sought

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A new U.S. strategy appears aimed at convincing Pakistan's spy agency to cooperate in reconciliation talks to end the war in Afghanistan, experts said.

Such cooperation under the "fight, talk, build" strategy would require the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, recently described as being secretly linked with the brutal Haqqani network, to bring the group and the Taliban to the peace talks, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The new approach was taken up by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her high-powered delegation during their recent visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Under this strategy, the United States would continue its strikes against the Haqqanis and the Taliban while at the same time insisting the Pakistani ISI get the insurgents to the negotiations.

However, the Times said some within the ISI, who feel the insurgents are the key to maintaining Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan after the foreign forces leave, don't see much benefit in going along with the U.S. demands.

The Times said as the new U.S. strategy comes into force, there has also been an escalation in attacks against Americans in Kabul, including the suicide attack Saturday on a NATO bus in which 13 foreigners died. The Haqqanis, who have havens in Pakistan's North Waziristan along with other insurgents, are again suspected in that attack.

The Times said even within the administration of President Barack Obama, some are skeptical about the new strategy. One senior U.S. official described the Pakistani response to the U.S. strategy as "cease-fire, talk, wait for the Americans to leave."

"The big question for the administration is, what can the Pakistanis actually deliver? Pakistan is holding its cards very closely," Shamila Chaudhary, a former top Obama White House aide on Pakistan and Afghanistan, was quoted as saying.

---[

When asked during her testimony before the U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee as to whether the new strategy whether it was negotiating with the Haqqanis, cracking down on them or both, Clinton was quoted as saying it was both.

"We want to fight, talk and build all at the same time. Part of the reason for that is to test whether these organizations have any willingness to negotiate in good faith," she said.